Me:I can come if you want me to.
Cocoa Puffs:You don’t miss me?
My face frowned in confusion as I replied to her.
Me:Why would you say that?
Cocoa Puffs:You said if I want you to. Do you not want to spend time with me or something?
Me:I’ll meet you at the house.
Texting wasn’t really my thing, and it was clear we weren’t understanding each other. I needed to make a couple of stops before I headed to her house so it would give me time to think about what I would say. Lyric sent me a text to let me know that she was spending the night with one of her friends and would be home in the morning. She asked for some money so they could get a pizza and some wings, so I told her I would drop it off before I headed to Cocoa’s house.
“I see your ass is over there grinnin’ again. You must have talked to your girl.”
“Bruh, fuck you. I’m about to head out of here. Naiari wants me to slide through, and Lyric needs some money. I’ll get up with you tomorrow.” We slapped hands, doing our personal handshake.
“Look at you. Happy as hell to go see your woman. I ain’t mad at you. Just make sure you do what I said. Don’t wait too long and get your heart snatched from under you.”
“That ain’t gon’ happen. I’m gonna lock her down. No more games.”
“Real shit. Make sure you hit me up tomorrow ’cause I need to know what happened.” I flipped the bird to him as I headed up the stairs of his basement. Logic lived with his momma, grandma, and a few other family members. Since there were so many people in the house, he slept in the basement on a pull-out bed. I asked if he planned to move out once he got his money up, but Logic wasn’t ready yet.
I guess I couldn’t blame him, because his family was much closer than mine. They had cookouts and random Sunday dinners whenever they were in the mood. His momma loved to party and kick it with her friends, but she made sure to keep food in the house and pay the bills. Jamilla had Logic when she was thirteen, so the two of them were basically raised together.
My nerves were starting to get the best of me, and I had to laugh because I had never been this way before. There was no question as to whether or not Naiari loved me, but I still couldn’t predict how things would go. Either way, I planned to lay it all on the table tonight.
A part of me felt bad because I hadn’t planned this out. There was no candlelight dinner or rose petals on the floor. All I hadwas my heart and my words. I prayed it would be enough for her as I took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
“Umm, when did you start knocking? Are you sick or something?” Naiari stood back to let me in, but her beauty distracted me. My Cocoa. Damn, she was perfect. Loose curls framed her face, and I couldn’t take my eyes off her perfect smile. She had small dimples in her cheeks, but you could only see them when she smiled.
“You’re starting to scare me. Why are you staring at me like this? You’re acting like I’ve been gone for months.” Naiari giggled, stepping into my space. When her hands rested on my chest, I wrapped my hands around her wrist before bringing them to my lips.
My eyes were locked on her, taking notice of the way she squirmed from my touch. I took a deep breath before I broke our connection. My dick was reacting, and that wasn’t what this was about.
“You wore that to church?” I asked, examining her outfit. She looked cute in her pink and green maxi dress, and her cleavage was covered.
“Why did you say it like that? You don’t like it?” Cocoa twirled in a circle, allowing me to see her from every angle. Her booty bounced as she turned, and I instantly got upset.
“It’s cute, but your booty fat as fuck. I’m sure a couple of those deacons were staring when you gave your offering.” I teased her. Truthfully, she looked amazing, and it made me jealous to see her dressed up for someone else.
“You get on my nerves. Bring your butt in this house.” I followed behind, enjoying the view from back there. Damn. My flesh took over as I began to think about the way her ass would look when I hit it from the back. I shook my head to clear it of those thoughts, but nothing changed. I didn’t know if it wasbecause I missed her or because it had been a while since I had sex. Either way, I needed to get my mind right.
“Come sit next to me. I feel like I haven’t seen you in so long. What have you been up to? I noticed you’ve been running the streets a lot more than normal. You barely have time for me because you’re out all night selling dope and robbin’ niggas. Is this really what you want to do with your life?” Her pretty face was furrowed as her eyes pierced through mine.
“Damn, I just walked through the door, and you’re already giving me the third degree,” I joked, but she barely cracked a smile.
“I apologize for my absence, but I’m tryna get my shit together. The money has been coming in quicker than I can keep up. It’s the first week of the month, which means all the fiends are cashing their SSI and disability checks. I can’t pass up on this kind of money right now.” Naiari glared at me with disappointment, which was something I wasn’t used to.
“I don’t like this. I’ve been holding my tongue because I understand what you have going on. You’re doing the best you can to provide for you and Lyric, and I would never want to get in the way of that.”
“But?”
“But this can’t be your endgame. The goal has always been for us to get our education and then plan out the rest of our lives. If you’re going to do this, then you are going to have to find a way to balance it all. I know you don’t want to go to college, but your music is still an option. There are people with less talent than you making it in the rap game. I know for a fact, if you were to take your music seriously, you could be signed to a major label within a year.”
I grinned, seeing her boss up on me. Usually, I was the one on her ass about the future, but I appreciated the fact that she cared so much about me to check me about it.
“I promise I will. I’ve already been putting my plan in motion.”
